Micro bubbles from sump
- Thread starter c.rob
- Start date
RocketEngineer
Space is big.
If you are getting micro bubbles out of the returns there is a pin hole leak somewhere in your return plumbing that is pulling air. Not going to be easy to find but check all your joints.
Guess I didn't word this right. The sump is visably ladden with micro bubbles from the four drain lines and skimmer dumping into the sump. The return pumps 2" intake is sucking them up before the surface . Since the sump is an oval stock tank I really can't section off anything to allow the bubbles to surface instead of being fed to the main display.
Gorgok
New member
Sure you can section it off. Any container can make a baffled off section, like a 5 gallon bucket. Ideally you want something inside of something, then put holes in the bottom edge on the outer, at the waterline on the inner.
You could also put the drains into a bucket, with holes only at the top. Don't know how much that would help, but it would also make vacuuming the sump easier (less surface area to care about).
In this case you just have to think inside the box(es).
You could also put the drains into a bucket, with holes only at the top. Don't know how much that would help, but it would also make vacuuming the sump easier (less surface area to care about).
In this case you just have to think inside the box(es).
Kearnel
New member
Mine was like that as well, it sucked up enough micro bubbles to stick to everything in the display, drove me insane. When I used a mag pump for my return I remembered it came with a round piece of foam that attached to the intake of the pump so I went to home Depot, got some of that gutter foam filter you use on the gutters of your house to stop leaves from getting in them, cut a chunk off to fit where the intake is on my new pump and installed with fairly good results. Only downside is it has to be cleaned periodically to prevent it from becoming a nitrate factory. It was all I could think of to solve the issue and it did to about 95%.
Wazzel
New member
Since it is a stock tank and adding baffles would be hard, see if you could find some buckets for your drains and skimmer output. If you can get the bucket(s) about the same height as your water level they will function like baffles. You may need to cut them, but buckets from a home improvement store are cheap.
You could also get a smaller tank, put it in the stock tank to house the skimmer and the drain lines. It would be like sectioning off part.
You could also get a smaller tank, put it in the stock tank to house the skimmer and the drain lines. It would be like sectioning off part.
Got buckets and an extra tank. Kicking around using cheato to do the the job also. I keep a basketball size amount in the sump. If I let it go it would fill the whole area and be a natural baffel ......mabey? May mess with the buckets this week end and see how that goes. The cheato would be a pod farm though!
falcona2552
New member
I used a micron filter wrapped around some egg crate to create a bubble wall baffle, almost all of the micro bubbles cling to the micron filter material, only allowing water to pass through. I used this until my protein skimmer completely broke in, then removed it from my system. For the 3 weeks I had it in my system it worked great. Even with a curved tank you could easily create a box out of egg crate with zip ties for very very cheap.
uncleof6
Active member
The real solution is to fix the basic problem that causes the bubbles in the first place. The skimmer is easy: is not properly installed, and/or properly adjusted (installed/adjusted other than described in the intructions for the skimmer based on someones else's notion or opinion.) Quality skimmers, when installed and adjusted properly do not produce micro bubbles in the effluent...if they do, then they are not quality skimmers...
The other problem is the drain lines. For other than siphon systems, air leaks in an open channel drain (aka durso etc) are irrelevant because the whole system is an air leak. However, a properly adjust open channel drain does not produce micro bubbles either. Unfortunately, the flow rates which will produce laminar flow (water on walls of pipe, calm air in the middle, aka properly adjusted pipe less than 1/4 full of water.) are far to low for practical application. Laminar flow rates for 1" open channel is ~ 50gph, and for 1.5" ~ 350gph. Anything smaller is absolutely pointless to use...these are the physics of open channel drains, and there is no fix for the issues other than lower flow rates. There are gimmicks out there, so-called easy fixes, unfortunately again, you cannot beat the physics, and these 'solutions' to dont solve the issue, rather mask a symptom but usually add an additional issue that can't be dealt with either... so you pile one gimmick on top of another gimmick and ultimately quit trying llive with it, and say 'it works great.' Or dump the drain into a sock which produces nitrate issues, because socks and other forms of mechanical filtration have no place in marine systems.
IF there were actually something that really worked for open channel drains, folks would not care to convert to siphon systems, and the conversion rate is akin to a pandemic viral infection...
The other problem is the drain lines. For other than siphon systems, air leaks in an open channel drain (aka durso etc) are irrelevant because the whole system is an air leak. However, a properly adjust open channel drain does not produce micro bubbles either. Unfortunately, the flow rates which will produce laminar flow (water on walls of pipe, calm air in the middle, aka properly adjusted pipe less than 1/4 full of water.) are far to low for practical application. Laminar flow rates for 1" open channel is ~ 50gph, and for 1.5" ~ 350gph. Anything smaller is absolutely pointless to use...these are the physics of open channel drains, and there is no fix for the issues other than lower flow rates. There are gimmicks out there, so-called easy fixes, unfortunately again, you cannot beat the physics, and these 'solutions' to dont solve the issue, rather mask a symptom but usually add an additional issue that can't be dealt with either... so you pile one gimmick on top of another gimmick and ultimately quit trying llive with it, and say 'it works great.' Or dump the drain into a sock which produces nitrate issues, because socks and other forms of mechanical filtration have no place in marine systems.
IF there were actually something that really worked for open channel drains, folks would not care to convert to siphon systems, and the conversion rate is akin to a pandemic viral infection...
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